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News and Pictures of People and Events in Webster, Dudley, and Oxford Volume 38 Number 12


INSIDE THIS EDITION


Meteorologist


visits St. Joe’s See page 10


168 Gore Road, Webster, MA 01570 • 508-943-8784 • www.patriotnewspaper.com • e-mail news@patriotnewspaper.com March 21, 2012


Issued Every Wednesday


Harrington launches $8.8M campaign for new Hubbard ER


Price: .75c


Emerson College student Cassie Bent produces Main Street documentary


From left, Harrington’s CEO Ed Moore, Diane Hanley, John Hanley, Represen- tative Richard E. Neal, State Senator Richard T. Moore, and in front, Zachary Urbanowski, at Harrington HealthCare System’s announcement last week.


MCAS Party


at BJHS See page 7


by Patriot staff WEBSTER - Promising it will be


a state of the art, 21st century fa- cility, Harrington Healthcare Sys- tem on Friday officially launched a fundraising campaign to rebuild the Emergency Department at its Hub- bard campus in Webster. Harrington CEO Edward H.


Dudley FD


Training See page 6


Moore announced that Harrington has a $4 million anonymous chal- lenge match from a local donor. The campaign has already received $434,500 in donations and pledges from individuals and businesses and five financial institutions – Webster Five Foundation, Savers Bank, Southbridge Savings Bank, Hometown Bank, and a grant from TD Bank. Com- bined with the anonymous match, the total amount pledged comes to $869,000. Addressing a standing room only as-


Cassie Bent


Text and photo by Steev Riccardo WEBSTER - Cassandra Bent grew up


Proposed new Emergency room at Hubbard.


sembly of local, state, and federal officials, Harrington employees, and residents at the Hubbard site on Thompson Road, Mr. Moore described the current Emergency Room as “five stretchers and four curtains,” a cramped space with no privacy, and with- out even a bathroom. The room is just 430 square feet, yet serves more than 12,000 patients a year. Despite its 50’s appearance, Mr. Moore


said the department staff is top-notch. Ev- ery doctor is board certified in Emergency Medicine and the nursing staff is certi- fied in Emergency Nursing, which is not the case at many community hospitals, he noted.


“Since 1929, this site has been the focal


INSIDE The Law & You .......... page 2


Chief’s column ........... page 3 Sports ........................ page 11 Peter Coyle ............... page 12 View from sidelines .... page 12 School news ............. page 13 Calendar ................... page 14 Janice C. Ford ......... page 15 Ask Madalyn ............ page 15 Senior News ............. page 15 Deaths ....................... page 16 Legal notices ............ page 17 Police logs ................ page 17 Arts Scoop ................ page 18 CCC pets ................... page 18 Classifieds ................ page 19


Dudley selectmen postpone signing IPG sewer


line agreement


with Oxford by Janet Stoica


Patriot Correspondent DUDLEY - Multiple questions arose dur-


ing Monday night’s Selectmen’s meeting regarding the Town of Oxford’s sewer line agreement for IPG Photonics. Chairman Steven Sullivan and Selectmen Paul Jo- seph, Jonathan Ruda, and Peter Fox ques- tioned the changes made to the sewer line construction project, designed to run from Oxford through Dudley and connect with Webster’s waste treatment system. Chairman Sullivan asked Town Adminis- trator Peter Jankowski about the decrease in sewer-line size that was now presented to them and how it would affect any Dudley residences along the new sewer line route if these residences wanted to tie into the new line. Louis Grzyb, Jr., Sewer Superinten- dent, explained the new line configurations to the Board with details on changes to the passive gravity-fed lines vs. pressure-forced lines. Selectman Joseph then recommended


Continued on page 4


point of healthcare for individuals, institu- tions and businesses in Webster, Dudley, Douglas, Oxford, Thompson and surround- ing communities. Meeting our campaign goals will ensure that those who live and work in this region will continue to receive state-of-the art healthcare, close to home, for many years to come,” he said. Congressman Richard E. Neal began his presentation with a discussion about the realities of healthcare today and its costs. If it weren’t for Medicare, he said, any one of us who has aging parents and college-age kids, “you could never hope to pay for those


Continued on page 4


in Webster giving to the community, and now that she is a senior and journalism major at Emerson College in Boston, she is still giving back to her community. She recently produced a documentary


entitled “Webster’s Main Street Revital- ization,” which details the changes the downtown area is going through and contains interviews with town and state officials, including Selectman Deborah Keefe, Town Administrator John McAu- liffe, Police Chief Timothy Bent, Lt. Gov- ernor Timothy Murray, Senator Richard T. Moore, and Representative Kevin Kuros. The excellent piece earned Bent an “A” in her class, and even more importantly,


Continued on page 3


Oxford BOS: Aquarion expense increase; animal shelter open; tax rate set by Janet Stoica


Patriot Correspondent OXFORD - The first item on the Board’s agenda March 13 was a public hearing regarding a telephone pole relocation on Front Street. The request was to grant permission to National Grid and Verizon in relocating their jointly-owned pole be- ginning 140 feet east of the centerline of the intersection of West Street. As there was no public opposition, the Board voted unanimously to approve the request. The next agenda item concerned the Town’s renewal note for the water compa-


ny purchase which was presented by Town Treasurer Claire Wilson and Clark Rowell of Unibank. The note sale completion date request was for 3/30/12 and designated for legal expenses for the acquisiton of the Aquarion Water Company’s Oxford facili- ties, currently $550,000, to be increased to $750,000. It was also stated that the pre- trial date was set for May 8th but would most likely be moved months forward ac- cording to Chairman Jennie Caissie. Ms. Caissie further indicated that the


Continued on page 8


DC School Committee: staff layoffs, higher sports and pre-school fees to


help close $4.3M budget gap by Janet Stoica


Patriot Correspondent DUDLEY - Last Wednesday’s Dudley-


Charlton Regional School Committee meeting (March 14) covered several agenda items before reviewing an additional $1.7 million in cuts proposed to close a projected 4.3 school budget gap. Superintendent Sean Gilrein reported


that the French River Education Center’s offering of Chinese Mandarin courses would count for students’ high school cred- its. He also noted that the Shepherd Hill cheerleaders had won the Division I State Championship last weekend. John Polumbo and Stan Kulas, auditors


for FY 2012, were next on the agenda. Mr. Polumbo spoke about the School District’s


financial statements, federal grants, and overall observations. He likened the school budget to running a business and also in- dicated that the schools are just getting by with existing reserves and that the school committee must be judicious in its expen- ditures. Mr. Polumbo also touched on health in-


surance costs, stating that the district was basically self-insured with stop-loss provi- sions, having had several very large health insurance claims. Mr. Kulas advised the committee that the district had received $2.8 million in federal grants, but that several were in process of being eliminated.


Continued on page 3


Stories from the


Hubbard ER Turn to page 4


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